Free Soil Party

The Free Soil Party was a liberal political party in the United States that existed from 1848 to 1854. The party was opposed to the expansion of slavery, and Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams Sr. were the party's 1848 presidential and vice-presidential nominees, respectively. The party drew on the support of anti-slavery members of the American Whig Party and the US Democratic Party, and its views were more radical than the Whigs; the Free Soilers opposed the US Army, promoted religious diversity, and sought to eliminate the government's role in economics. The party was absorbed into the new US Republican Party in 1854.